Month: July 2016

Traveling. I fucking love traveling. Oh yes. One of the most basic and ancient human activities since the beginning of times. For pleasure, to conquer a new land, to meet the love of your life, to find yourself, to learn new stuff, to disappear and start over. Whatever the reason you might think of, traveling (for most of the people) has always been one of the favorite activities of man kind. But why do we travel?

It is clear that as the time has gone by, the possibilities of traveling around have increased in terms of available technology to do it and lower prices that would not instantly kill your wallet. Equally, the opportunities for young people that have the luck and joy of having enough resources to go abroad for a certain amount of time, have dramatically increased in the passed 20-25 years. A young lad/girl wanting to cross an entire ocean to find her/himself on a new country with new people and new food to be tasted. Good job chaparrita/o! But why is it that we want this? So fucking bad?

I had the incredible luck of going abroad 10 years ago and have an incredible exchange year in Dortmund, Germany. Met fantastic people who until today, I consider some of them as very close friends. It was the 1st time I got drunk/wasted/pucked on the street and so many other 1st times that actually changed me entirely. When my mom saw me and dealt with me during the 1st week I came back, she literally said “what happened to my son?” with a freaking out face. Priceless.

I actually just filled this DNA travel experience that asks you basically how would you help open the world with traveling? And shit, for me traveling is like eating tacos. It´s majestic, spicy, fucking tasty, but it is happy and invaluable when you share it with someone. It’s magical and makes you aim for more. (Fat bastard taco eaters)

I have recently read quite a lot of articles that express how difficult it is when you go back home after a long period of time being abroad. How difficult it is to realize that everything is just the same (or almost the same) as when you left for the biggest adventure of your life, how annoying it is that people considers you a douchebag just because you had the chance of going 12,000 km far away, how annoying it is that you want to share everything you lived with your friends and that they would call you a smug just because they did not have the chance of living a similar experience; how even more annoying it is that your family wouldn’t even sit with you for the afternoon so you could share with them what happened to you. It makes you feel a deep vacuum inside. These articles emphasize a lot in how much one changes when you’re back and how bad you want to find any excuse to get the cheapest deal and go abroad again. Aaaand there is nothing wrong with that indeed, it is true, it happens, and it’s awful and painful, but that’s the way it is.

HOWEVAAA. Why focusing on the bad side? It is totally a matter of perspective and objectivity I must say.

If we look at it that way, it is OBVIOUS that most or at least many of the things would remain the same after your trip since those who stayed indeed did NOT travelled like a crazy fart around the globe. It is unquestionable that most of the people, including your family, won’t understand why the fuck are you always talking about how marvelous it was to be at the Eiffel tower, the Roman coliseum, an incredible landscape in Laos and the Aurora Borealis on the arctic circle; why? because they haven’t experienced it. They can try to understand because they are nice, they can try to even say “shit that sounds awesome!” in a very authentic way, but the excitement will pass after 30 seconds at least in most of the cases, and of course you would feel depressed and think of something like “fucking pricks, I thought you´ll be happier about me, I´ll never share anything with you again”. It happened to me as well but you know what? It is a waste of time.

The magic of traveling is so fucking amazing that it can give you all the determination you need to do and accomplish your dreams, to meet an incredible person with whom you may live unforgettable moments and of course it also changes your ways of seeing life forever. Of course, this happens if and only if you allow it and you let it embrace you, which by the way, many people can´t because change indeed, is fucking scary.

But for a guy like me who has had the fortune of being in more than 40 cities around the globe due to holidays, work and academical reasons, I know that going back home of course will never be the same. NEVER. Why? Because you and I will never be the same either. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! A true travel experience will actually make you feel in such a way that you will ask yourself “what the fuck am I doing?”; scenarios that if decided to grasp, will make you grow as an individual, as a human being. Situations that will actually make you say to yourself “oh shit, everybody chill the fuck out, I know about this, everything will be OK”. Showing off in a very cool but humble way.

For those who actually come back home and won´t be traveling for a long period of time, I believe my best advice would be, don’t waste your time feeling miserable and wanting to go to another place just because you don’t find yourself back home. That actually means you’re being somehow a crying baby that is not accepting the reality, that is not accepting the moment, that is not living every instant at a 100% as in traveling, just because you’re not somewhere else. Attitude my friends, fucking attitude is the key.

Traveling is a very effective and marvelous way to make us cherish life. And at least what I have learned so far, of so many incredible moments, is that when being at home, when we come back and think “well, nothing has changed”, it is a mere responsibility that we don’t think that way, and instead of dreaming of traveling again because that will make you happy, let’s start with defining where you are, where you come from, where have you been and if you feel all that made you a better person, then what are you doing to make your home a better place too? And if you have already booked your next trip then, fucking enjot it, and then ask yourself, am I wanting to live a new experience? Or am I just escaping my reality?